Google

Saturday, January 19, 2008

Dracula...You know this was coming.

We all knew this was coming...to start, I want to cover a rather well-known story; Bram Stoker's Dracula. There have been many things people have connect to this story, from whom the villain was based on, to the name. I'm not going to go too deep into it, but let's just give some insight into this, since this all about Vampires, and this is a widely popular Vampire Novel. Really, I'd rather go into the Myth of the Man that is believed to be the Dracula of the story.

This was a novel, writen in the later part of the 1800's(roughly 1897), and is set up as a series of diary entries, and the like, to tell the story. Count Dracula is the villain of the story, and is the rather classic view of Vampires. Now, I'd go into the characters, the setting, and all, but this is about Vampires, after all, not the novel. Now the name means, in my belief, "Son of Dragon" or, also, "Son of Devil". Many believe that the character was based on Vlad III, but this is seen as false, in fact, by many. Stoker's knowledge of Romanian history seemed to be fairly decent, and was used, often, in the novel, but nothing about Vlad was even hinted at.

Vlad III was known as Vlad the Impaler, and this was due to the fact that he enjoyed, often, impaling his enemies with a pike, and letting them bleed out. Now, he is often seen as a ruthless, evil man, but, that is all a matter of opinion. Some have also said he was a just prince, and defended his people, driving of the invading Turks, and the like. Really, he was ruthlessly cruel with his choice of torture, but, none the less, he was no monster, or vampire, and was never thought of as such, or intended to be seen as such.

All of that said, the Novel "Dracula" is still a classic story of good winning over evil, as people so love to read, and had a mixture of the old world lore and such, and raising technology, of the time. Since it was made, many movies have been released, involving the main villain, and even using his name. As for Vampire myths, really, the classic of Vampires not having a reflection, or being able to cross running water, were added to the original story by Stoker, and were never a apart of the Folklore. As for Sunlight being deadly, for Stoker, Dracula could enter Sunlight, but it removed his more...inhuman powers. Vampire's death, in sunlight, was more a theme added with the film "Nosferatu."

I believe this will due, for now. Until tomorrow, I hope all remain well. More novel depictions shall come, in time, but my next post shall be on a cultural Vampire myth, so I hope it is enjoyed. Farewell to all, and rest well.

1 comment:

Jerome Samson said...

Vampires is not at all like in the movies or books. Sure, I understand. You are young you have the whole world open to you. You can be anything that you choose if you apply yourself and try hard to work toward that goal. But being a Vampire is not what it seems like. It’s a life full of good, and amazing things. We are as human as you are.. It’s not what you are that counts, But how you choose to be. Do you want a life full of interesting things? Do you want to have power and influence over others? To be charming and desirable? To have wealth, health, and longevity? contact the Vampires Lord on his Email: Richvampirekindom@gmail.com